Professor J. T. Smilee
In the short story The Blue Orchid, Professor J. T. Smilee, F.R.H.S., was a orchid collector who persuaded Biggles and Algy to take him on a trip to fetch a rare and unusual orchid. Fresh from their adventures in The Maid and the Mountains, Biggles and Algy, still in La Paz, Bolivia, are wondering what to do next when Smilee calls on them with a proposition. Smilee introduces himself as a orchid collector who works for pleasure rather than profit, with most of his rare finds going to Kew Gardens. Smilee had just come up from Paraguay with a proposition concerned flying to a remote location in Bolivia where a mysterious blue orchid was said to grow. It seemed that six months before, one Mr F. Hutson, a well-known professional orchid hunter, had been found dead in a balsa, a native canoe. In his diary was an account to the effect that some Leco Indians had told him where a mysterious blue orchid grew. Hutton had made a sketch map and some notes about where to find the place. Apparently Hutton found the orchid as a shrivelled up flower was found in his boat. Analysis by experts at Kew Gardens had concluded that it was of no known species. The location was some distance from La Paz and would take months to reach by mule train and canoe. An aircraft, on the other hand, would do the trip in three or four days. By studying the maps Smilee brought, Biggles concluded that the location was some three hundred miles from La Paz, and so a practical distance within the range of the Vandal. Biggles warned Smilee about the risk of a forced landing but Smilee was unconcerned. He had the means to pay for the trip, including compensating Biggles for the loss of the aircraft if necessary. Moreover, the savings in time and expense from not having to go overland were significant. The airmen set off with Smilee for the location of the orchid, near a lake at the head of one of the tributaries of the Beni River. There, they discovered a frightening spectacle--all life around the lake seemed to have died. Even the dead trees crumbled to dust to the touch. Smilee was not deterred, and made his way ashore and deeper into the jungle to search for the orchids. Along the way, they caught occasional whiffs of a strange perfume. They soon found the orchids which looked every bit as unusual as the stories told about them. All of the explorers had began to feel ill for a while already when, just then, there was the overpowering smell of the perfume. Biggles had an epiphany--the orchids emitted a strong poison. This explained the lack of plant and animal life all around the lake. Shouting a warning to Algy and Smilee, they made a rush for the aircraft but all collapse on the way. When Biggles comes to, he was already in the Vandal which was adrift on a river. Biggles saw Algy and Smyth unconscious in the cockpit and revived them. But the Smilee was nowhere to be seen. Smyth explained that he saw Biggles helping the professor but both had collapsed near the aircraft. Smyth had dragged Biggles and Lacey on board and then cut the mooring cable before he too collapsed. Biggles determined to go back for Smilee and started up the aircraft. They eventually find the lake but see that the surround forest was all on fire. It seemed a cigarette Biggles was smoking when he collapsed must have ignited the tinder-dry wood of the dead tress around the lake. Smilee was most probably dead. There was little or no hope of him being found in the flames so Biggles and Algy set course for La Paz. Category:People Category:Biggles characters Category:Interwar era characters